Ben: Ben recently had a divorce, and his best friend Travis, is trying to help him not fall into a further hole. Ben hasn’t had a haircut in months and is physically and mentally down. His body language, the tone of his voice, and the way he dresses show signs of depression. The cause of his divorce is mainly because Ben is not around much because of work and she also says she just doesn’t love him anymore. Ben spent most of his time at work. He works 16 hours a day and 6 days a week so his wife doesn’t have to work. Because of the many hours Ben works, his kids mainly see their mom and do not understand how much Ben is sacrificing to provide for them. Ben and his wife have 3 kids. When Ben’s wife filed for divorce it came as a shock to Ben as he thought everything was all good and never really knew that there was an issue. Ben and his wife have been together since they were freshmen in high school. Throughout the years they have been on again and off again but eventually getting married. The longest they have ever been broken up is a month. Ben is 29 years old and has been divorced for a little over a month(about 5 weeks).
Melissa: Melissa is also 29 and Ben’s wife of 7 years and they have been together since freshman year of high school. Ben and Melissa got married after they both graduated from college. Melissa has been unhappy due to the lack of time Ben spent with her because of his job. Melissa also held back many of her problems with Ben both big and small which was waiting to explode inside of her. Melissa just let all those issues get to her without trying to solve the problem so she eventually overlooked the good in the marriage and focused on the negative which caused her to fall out of love with Ben. Melissa did have a lot of work at home dealing with 3 children, and that caused a lot of stress.
The kids: Melissa and Ben have 3 kids. Ben Jr who is the oldest is 10 years old, Ashley who is the middle child is 9, and David the youngest is 5.
Travis: Travis is Ben’s best friend and they have known each other since elementary school. Travis is living with his girlfriend Sasha and her sister Stephanie. Travis and Sasha have been together for 5 years and lived together for 4 years. Both Travis and Sasha are 28 years old. Travis and Sasha have somewhat of an open relationship but Travis occasionally entertains other women and Sasha knows and is fine with it. Sasha rarely entertains another man. Sasha and Travis have an unorthodox relationship but both love each other and seem to make it work.
Stephanie: Stephanie is Sasha’s sister and she is 27 years old with no children. Stephanie was with her ex-fiancee for 3 years and her ex-fiancee’s name is Vince. Vince always wanted kids and he didn’t find out til he proposed that Stephanie couldn’t have children. Stephanie was pregnant once but it was when she was in high school and her parents made her get an abortion which doctors say has jeopardized her chances of having children in the future. Stephanie didn’t tell Vince because she was madly in love with him and she didn’t want him to leave her.
Vince: Vince was a good man but past experiences with women have caused him to lose many of his morals. When he found out that Stephanie couldn’t get pregnant he tried to stay with her and was willing to try other options but he didn’t want to go through the rest of his life regretting not having children of his own. Vince did take advantage of Stephanie and how much she loved him by cheating on her and verbally abusing her.
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Travis and Sasha are sitting on the couch in their living room watching Love and hip hop.
Stephanie opens her room door and quietly walks past Travis and Sasha with a depressed look on her face.
Travis and Sasha both look up at her and then look at each other as Stephanie walks into the kitchen.
Travis asks Sasha, “Have you asked your sister how she feels about the breakup?”. Sasha looks back at the TV with an unconcerned look on her face and says, “Every time I try and talk to her she tells me she doesn’t feel like talking about it.”. Stephanie is walking out of the kitchen with a cup of ice and a bottle of vodka in her hands. Travis looks up at her and says, “What’s up?”, “how you doin’?”. Stephanie stops and shrugs her shoulders and says, “I’m cool”. Stephanie starts back walking to her room and Travis says, “Come sit down with us and tell me how you feel.” Stephanie stops again and says, ” I understand you’re concerned but I really can’t talk about it right now.”. Travis says, “That’s cool but I’m not trying to find out what happened between you two, I’m just trying to make sure you’re truly ok.” Stephanie says, “Oh, ok. I’m fine but…I’m fine.” Travis then says, “it’s ok to feel sad and down about losing someone you love but you gotta confide in your loved ones, us, and get your feelings off your chest and then get back on your feet.” Stephanie says, “thank you and I will when I’m ready but it’s good to know I have your support.” Travis says, “ok I don’t want to pressure you but just know we’re both here for you.” Stephanie finally goes into her room and Sasha asks Travis, “hey how’s your friend Ben, is he doing ok after his divorce?”.